A review by witcheep
Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a beautiful love story where
two people find each other and by doing so also find themselves – even through past baggage/trauma, self doubt, and fear of new things
. There's a lovely (and bossy) community around them, as well as a mystery put on a back burner to simmer thoughout the book to cook up the plot twists in the end into a bigger soup of intertwining reveals.

I'm surprised in how quickly I've adjusted to this 'I'm in love' revelation. It's like picking up a coat in a thrift store and shrugging it on: it fits, I don't need to look in the mirror to know it. Now I just carry on wearing it.

There's many kinds of representation in this book: different ages of characters (early 20s to late 80s with flahbacks/reminiscing of teenage years), lesbian side characters
with a mostly hidden sapphic romance
, and main characters with neurodivergent traits (
obsessive behaviour to the extent of neuroticism, anxiety attack, and easily distracted attention
) but no diagnosis named.
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